As advances in medicine allow people to live much longer lives, sustaining one's walking ability becomes increasingly important for overall well-being and prolonged independent living. Various segments of the population that have experienced challenges with walking include individuals affected by one or more long-term serious health conditions such as cerebral vascular accidents, certain heart diseases, and diseases that cause muscle atrophy.
While these types of health issues are not limited to the elderly anymore, even older adults, including baby boomers, are the one segment of the aging population who experience persistent difficulties with walking and re-learning to walk after crippling illnesses.
Another equally important segment of the population that experience persistent difficulties with walking, especially re-training the brain to walk after neurological conditions, is individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI). TBI patients are well documented in contact professional sports, such as football, as well as in various branches of the military.
Generally, nurses, rehabilitation department personnel and physical medicine doctors encourage patients to improve their walking ability in order to avoid secondary illnesses that may develop, or to prevent primary conditions from becoming worse.
A major concern, however, for health practitioners as well as homecare providers in dealing with such patients is safety—their risk of falling. In conventional assistive devices, the structures are oftentimes complicated, cumbersome, costly, too restrictive and non-therapeutic to the patient. From my professional experience, patients succumb to the lack of balance, muscle weakness and/or pain, become discouraged and then lose hope in their ability to walk. Ultimately, they lose all mobility and the quality of life that comes with independence.